Courteney Cox on why she dared to wobble her belly for role in Cougar Town

May 2024 ยท 6 minute read

JENNIFER ANISTON couldn't get her head round why her friend Courteney Cox wobbled her belly on telly for everyone to see.

But the 46-year-old mother-of-one wanted to make sure her new television series Cougar Town was the real deal.

And if that meant forgoing computer trickery or a body double, then Courteney felt she had to do it.

Slim and toned as she is, the scene with her looking at herself in a mirror showed off her stretch marks and arm fat - and that worried the actress.

She insisted: "This show talks about real things and real experiences, so I had to show the real me.

"My friend Jennifer said, 'Wow! Why are you being so brave?' She couldn't believe I'd show everything off like that.

"It's not like I just wobbled a bit of elbow skin. I actually grabbed my belly and shook it. She was really taken back but she loved it."

It was a brave move by an actress four years from her 50th birthday and whose film career hasn't hit the same heights as her Friends co-star Jennifer.

"I certainly didn't need to show it to everybody," Courteney agreed, "but that's the real side of being 40.

"I think it was important for my character to be shown as real, which is why I did it and that's why it's my body.

"I have had a kid, so my stomach will never be tight - and I don't care.

"I'm sitting here right now and I know my stomach isn't flat. It's just what it is. I had a baby at 40 and that's what happens."

The shot of a scantily clad Courteney is the opening scene of the hit series, which is out on DVD this week in the UK.

The premise is simple. An older woman is back in the dating game and realises it's better for her to have fun with younger guys than stick with the broken, baggage-heavy men of her age.

Courteney is talking from experience. Her husband of 11 years, David Arquette, is seven years her junior.

So that must make the former Friends star a cougar? "I guess it does," she smiled.

"I can imagine that if I wasn't married to David, I would be married to another younger guy.

"I used to like older guys because I wanted to learn from them and there was something nice about that feeling.

"There was one guy I dated who was 16 years older than me and I loved the fact that he could teach me all of the things that I didn't pay attention to at school.

"But I've learned enough and I find myself attracted to younger people."

Still, she's finding growing older every bit as hard as her Cougar Town alter ego Jules Cobb, who is horrified at hitting 40.

Courteney said: "Turning 40 wasn't too bad for me because I don't remember it. I had given birth to my daughter Coco two days before, so I was lying in bed with her all day long.

"I couldn't believe I had a kid and I didn't know what to do with her.

"To be honest, turning 40 was fine - but turning 45 really struck a nerve."

She admits to flirting with botox to preserve her looks but said overdoing it made her face seize up so much she felt "trapped in my own skin". She now uses it sparingly.

Courteney added: "Growing older is hard wherever you live but I think it's exceptionally hard if you live in Hollywood.

"It would be much scarier for me if I wasn't married at 40 and I had to go back out into the dating world again.

"That's a tough, tough world - and that's the world that my character faces in Cougar Town."

The actress from Birmingham, Alabama, first made her mark in the 1984 video for Bruce Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark.

An advert for Tampax and early parts in Masters Of The Universe and Cocoon: The Return led to a role in Family Ties as Lauren, the girlfriend of Michael J Fox's character Alex.

A jobbing actress, she tried out for the part of Rachel Green in a new sitcom called Friends but instead won the role of Monica Geller.

Jennifer - a guest star in Cougar Town's second series - got the gig as Rachel.

The show made Courteney one of the world's most famous faces and the show ran for 10 years.

During the final two series, she, Jennifer and co-star Lisa Kudrow earned $1million an episode. They were the highest-paid TV actresses of all time.

Moving from TV to film is never easy - of the Friends stars only Jennifer has been truly successful - although Courteney has starred in the great horror franchise Scream as reporter Gale Weathers.

She met hubby David filming the first Scream movie in 1996 and they will reprise their roles (he plays the bumbling cop Dewey) in Scream 4, out next year.

Courteney had to turn down the part of Susan Meyer in Desperate Housewives because she was pregnant - and that reignited Teri Hatcher's career.

But Courteney got her TV second chance when Cougar Town came along, bringing with it the idea that it was acceptable for older women to date younger men.

Lots of stars are doing it, from Demi Moore and Eva Longoria-Parker to Barbara Windsor and Amanda Redman.

These "predatory" women have a whole raft of catty nicknames. Pumas are women in the their 30s dating younger men, jaguars are in their 50s and sabretooths are in their 60s.

Courteney said: "I used to think the term 'cougar' described a woman who had a lot of plastic surgery. A woman who was trying to look younger in order to date someone younger.

"Now I think it refers to a woman who uses her experience and confidence to date younger guys - and they find her attractive.

"There are lot of men out there who are more attracted to older women because of their experience and the fact that there's no game-playing.

"I know that my husband certainly feels like this, too. He likes older women. I'm young compared to some of the people he's gone out with."

When Joan Collins or Elizabeth Taylor snagged a younger man in their heyday, it was frowned on.

But Courteney said: "Women are feeling good enough about themselves to be able to go out with a younger guy and show off their experiences - and I think that's great.

"I think younger guys make you feel great about yourself. Getting older can be tough because we pick ourselves apart. We see things in ourselves no one else can see and it's a tough world for us.

"However, it's a wonderful feeling when a younger man is attracted to you. It makes you feel good."

The complete first series of Cougar Town season one is available on DVD now.

The second series screens in the UK next year on Living.

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